


The Flip Side

by Redfox (sixbeforelunch)



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-14
Updated: 2002-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:51:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/Redfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU angst in a car.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flip Side

"I don't like it here anymore."

Dana almost missed the statement since she was just getting into the car. She slammed the door of the dark blue Taurus and relished the cool air coming out of the vents. Looking out over the flat east Texas landscape, she said, "Well, it's not a very good view."

Sam sighed. Dana knew she wasn't talking about the scenery. She'd known this would happen, warned her. She shouldn't feel sorry for her friend when she'd warned her and Sam had ignored it.

Since when did Sam take her advice?

"You okay, Sam?" Dana asked, keeping her voice easy. Push, and Sam'd push back. Give her room and just she might talk.

"It's just...cases like this..." She bent over and fiddled with the air conditioner's controls. Outside, it was broiling. Inside the car, with the air on and the fan on max, it was just bearable. "They being back bad memories, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Dana sought out her friend's eyes, but Sam was looking down at the sleeves of her suit jacket. "You okay?" Dana asked. Sam shrugged and pulled a few strands of hair out of her neat, dark brown ponytail. It was an unusual nervous habit, but there wasn't much about Sam that was usual.

"Are we friends, Dana?" she asked suddenly and Dana tried not to be hurt by the question. Sam sought out reassurance, but only from the people she was close to. She never would have asked the question if they weren't.

"Best friends," Dana said.

Sam nodded intently, as if hearing something for the first time. She pulled a few more strands out of her ponytail. "Can we go home then?"

Dana bit back the first comment that came to her mind which was that she hadn't wanted to be on the case from the beginning. Dana was the one who had argued that this wasn't an X-File. That Sam was going to take it too personally. All she said now was, "Sure."

Sam gave her a grateful smile, then looked past her at the dark green house and Dana knew she was remembering. "I wish I could have met your brother," she said, hoping the statement would actually be conciliatory and not just bring up more bad memories.

Sam smiled again and restarted the car. With an embarrassed shrug, she put the Taurus in Drive and pulled away from the house. The tires kicked up a cloud of dust. When they'd pulled onto the paved road, Sam said, "He was a good kid. He used to tease me, but that was just him being a big brother. When it was really important, he came through for me." She stopped the car at a red light and Dana knew she was trying to decide how much to say. "Dad used to get angry when he drank. Fox would...he protected me. Right up to when they took him."

The light changed and Sam got the car moving again. "He was a good kid," she repeated. Dana barely heard her over the air conditioning when she added, "I wish I knew what kind of man he became."

"You'll find out," Dana said. "You'll find out what happened to him."

"How can you be so sure," Sam asked. She could be so fierce, so brave when she had to be, but right now she sounded like a tired little girl.

"Because you're not going to give up," Dana said. "You won't stop until you find him." 'Even if it kills you' added the part of her mind that worried about things like that.

"He would have done the same for me," Sam said.

Dana tried to picture the man Fox Mulder could have been, if he'd never been taken. "Yes," she said, "he would have." For some reason, she knew that to be the absolute truth.


End file.
